Computation of lactation yields from test-day data has lost much of its importance for genetic evaluations as the use of test-day models is currently quite widespread. In the other hand its interest for ... [more ▼]

Computation of lactation yields from test-day data has lost much of its importance for genetic evaluations as the use of test-day models is currently quite widespread. In the other hand its interest for intra-farm management is increasing as a base for advanced management tools. The first and principal aim of this study was to develop a method which takes into account advantages and disadvantages of existing methods, and to test its potential to provide useful management tools to dairy farmers. A test-day model with modifications to able daily run and management tools was developed. Because of its similarities with best prediction, the method developed here was called modified best prediction. The second objective was to compare the accuracy of this new method with best prediction and test interval methods. Modified best prediction showed good results for predicting daily yields and was slightly better than best prediction for lactation yields prediction. Management tools obtained with modified best prediction are explained. [less ▲]

Ind. of lactoferrin content, ind. of Na content, and lactose content were the three most correlated milk components with somatic cell score among available milk components predicted by mid-infrared ... [more ▼]

Ind. of lactoferrin content, ind. of Na content, and lactose content were the three most correlated milk components with somatic cell score among available milk components predicted by mid-infrared spectrometry on 590,083 test-day records from Walloon Region of Belgium collected between 2007 and 2009. Mean daily heritabilities and mean genetic correlations of these four traits were estimated using Gibbs sampling methodology applied to a multi-trait random regression test-day model with a subset of these records. Mean daily heritabilities of ind. lactoferrin content (0.34), ind. Na content (0.37) and lactose content (0.42) were higher then SCS (0.16) and mean genetic correlations were moderate (from -0.18 to -0.73), showing that these traits could be used together to describe udder health in genetic evaluations instead of SCS alone when clinical mastitis data are not available. [less ▲]

in Proceedings of the 9th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (2010, August)

Genetic correlations between body condition score (BCS) in lactation 1 to 3 and four economically important traits (days open, 305-days milk, fat, and protein yields recorded in the first 3 lactations ... [more ▼]

Genetic correlations between body condition score (BCS) in lactation 1 to 3 and four economically important traits (days open, 305-days milk, fat, and protein yields recorded in the first 3 lactations) were estimated on about 12,500 Walloon Holstein cows using 4-trait random regression models. Results indicated moderate favorable genetic correlations between BCS and days open (from -0.46 to -0.62) and suggested the use of BCS for indirect selection on fertility. However, unfavorable genetic correlations between BCS and yields (from -0.16 to -0.71) indicated that selection on BCS would have deleterious effects on milk, fat, and protein yields, especially in lactation greater than 1. [less ▲]

in Proceedings of the 9th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (2010, August)

Ind. of lactoferrin content, ind. of Na content, and lactose content were the three most correlated milk components with somatic cell score among available milk components predicted by mid-infrared ... [more ▼]

Ind. of lactoferrin content, ind. of Na content, and lactose content were the three most correlated milk components with somatic cell score among available milk components predicted by mid-infrared spectrometry on 590,083 test-day records from Walloon Region of Belgium collected between 2007 and 2009. Mean daily heritabilities and mean genetic correlations of these four traits were estimated using Gibbs sampling methodology applied to a multi-trait random regression test-day model with a subset of these records. Mean daily heritabilities of ind. lactoferrin content (0.34), ind. Na content (0.37) and lactose content (0.42) were higher then SCS (0.16) and mean genetic correlations were moderate (from -0.18 to -0.73), showing that these traits could be used together to describe udder health in genetic evaluations instead of SCS alone when clinical mastitis data are not available. [less ▲]

Computation of lactation yields from test-day data has lost much of its importance for genetic evaluations as the use of test-day models is currently quite widespread. In the other hand its interest for ... [more ▼]

Computation of lactation yields from test-day data has lost much of its importance for genetic evaluations as the use of test-day models is currently quite widespread. In the other hand its interest for intra-farm management is increasing as a base for advanced management tools. The first and principal aim of this study was to develop a method which takes into account advantages and disadvantages of existing methods, and to test its potential to provide useful management tools to dairy farmers. A test-day model with modifications to able daily run and management tools was developed. Because of its similarities with best prediction, the method developed here was called modified best prediction. The second objective was to compare the accuracy of this new method with best prediction and test interval methods. Modified best prediction showed good results for predicting daily yields and was slightly better than best prediction for lactation yields prediction. Management tools obtained with modified best prediction are explained. [less ▲]

in Book of Abstracts of the 60th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production (2009, August)

Computation of lactation yields from test-day yield has lost much of its importance for genetic evaluations as <br />the use of test-day models is rather widespread. At the same time its importance for ... [more ▼]

Computation of lactation yields from test-day yield has lost much of its importance for genetic evaluations as <br />the use of test-day models is rather widespread. At the same time its importance for intra-farm management <br />increases at farms as a base for advanced management tools. The most common official method to compute <br />lactation yield is the Test Interval Method (TIM). Alternative methods for computing cumulated productions <br />were developed. These methods can be considered as improvements of TIM as the interpolation method, <br />or completely different methods as multiple-trait prediction (MTP) and best prediction (BP). Research <br />in this field has shown the potential to compute lactation parameters (e.g., cumulated production) with <br />test-day models. The aim of this study was to develop a new method which takes into account advantages <br />and disadvantages of existing methods, and to test its potential to provide useful tools to help farmers to <br />make management decisions. The second objective was to compare the accuracy and the robustness of this <br />method with those of BP and TIM. Because of its similarities with BP, the method developed here was <br />called mBP, for modified-BP. The main difference from BP is the definition of the standard lactation curve. <br />To minimize bias, components of standard lactation curves proper to each herd are computed jointly with <br />random individual effects. Recently a new version of mBP was tested that puts expectations of constant <br />animal effects to observed average values using Bayesian prediction, a feature also used by MTP. [less ▲]

The aim of this study was to develop an adapted random regression test-day model for milk urea (MU) and to study the possibility of using predictions and solutions given by the model for management ... [more ▼]

The aim of this study was to develop an adapted random regression test-day model for milk urea (MU) and to study the possibility of using predictions and solutions given by the model for management purposes. Data included 607,416 MU test-day records of first-lactation cows from 632 dairy herds in the Walloon Region of Belgium. Several advanced features were used. First, to detect the herd influence, the classical herd x test-day effect was split into 3 new effects: a fixed herd x year effect, a fixed herd x month-period effect, and a random herd test-day effect. A fixed time period regression was added in the model to take into account the yearly oscillations of MU on a population scale. Moreover, first autoregressive processes were introduced and allowed us to consider the link between successive test-day records. The variance component estimation indicated that large variance was associated with the random herd x test-day effect (48% of the total variance), suggesting the strong influence of herd management on the MU level. The heritability estimate was 0.13. By comparing observed and predicted MU levels at both the individual and herd levels, target ranges for MU concentrations were defined to take into account features of each cow and each herd. At the cow level, an MU record was considered as deviant if it was <200 or >400 mg/L (target range used in the field) and if the prediction error was >50 mg/L (indicating a significant deviation from the expected level). Approximately 7.5% of the MU records collected between June 2007 and May 2008 were beyond these thresholds. This combination allowed for the detection of potentially suspicious cows. At the herd level, the expected MU level was considered as the sum of the solutions for specific herd effects. A herd was considered as deviant from its target range when the prediction error was greater than the standard deviation of MU averaged by herd test day. Results showed that 6.7% of the herd test-day MU levels between June 2007 and May 2008 were considered deviant. These deviations seemed to occur more often during the grazing period. Although theoretical considerations developed in this study should be validated in the field, this research showed the potential use of a test-day model for analyzing functional traits to advise dairy farmers. [less ▲]